Dave Dieter/Huntsville TimesThe new student center at the Huntsville campus of Calhoun Community College has enhanced the college experience.

DECATUR - The main campus of Calhoun Community College just north of Decatur sparkles with new buildings.

Across U.S. 31 from Calhoun, the Alabama Robotics Technology Park is rising from the ground. And earlier this month, ground was broken on a new arts center in downtown Decatur - a short drive from the Calhoun campus.

These are the obvious outgrowths of the state's largest community college, which has more than 12,000 students. But what's not so obvious is the school's future in Huntsville.

Calhoun, of course, has a strong presence in Huntsville. The school's campus on Wynn Drive housed almost 5,000 students during the fall semester.

But compared to the Decatur campus, there is no comparison.

The Huntsville campus is actually one building - albeit it one with about 225,000 square feet. Aesthetically, it looks like a warehouse from the outside.

"Because it's all under one roof, it's not as noticeable when you drive by," said Janet Martin, an assistant to Beck. "When you drive by (the Decatur) campus, you can see a building going up."

On the inside of the Huntsville facility, however, improvements have been made that provide many of the features typically found on a college campus - except, of course, trees and sidewalks. The only reason to go outside is to return to your car.

"Yes, we've built buildings here," Beck said recently in her office in one of the new buildings on the Decatur campus. "And we need to expand our facility in Huntsville."

That need is racing toward Calhoun. Beck said the Wynn Drive facility "will be maxed out" by the 2011 fall semester. And the school is actively searching for possible locations for expansion, though Beck declined to go into any detail.

The plans, though, are big.

Calhoun attempted to buy the old Chrysler building across Wynn Drive to create a sprawling Huntsville campus. But contamination issues with that property have forced the school to look elsewhere.

Still, Beck said, that would have been a nice fit for Calhoun.

"We were looking for a design that would make that a very prominent college campus," Beck said. "You can do that with architecture and landscaping. If we were there, we would have to have a big crosswalk (across Wynn).

"We were going to use a crosswalk as a marquee. You can build brick crosswalks and make them look architecturally very attractive. That was the vision."

For now, Beck and Martin point to the new student center in the Huntsville facility as filling a major need. It's provided such a central location for students to gather that Chick-fil-A serves lunch and dinner there now.

The Huntsville campus also offers many of the same classes as the Decatur campus, according to Martin. The biggest difference is that all health-related courses - such as nursing - are offered only in Decatur. The exception is biotechnology, which is exclusive to Huntsville.

All technology courses are available only in Decatur, too.

Pre-engineering courses and paralegal classes are taught only in Huntsville.

But the reality is that the Wynn Drive campus is "landlocked," Martin said, and parking is scarce for students.

In other words, it seems inevitable that Calhoun's presence in Huntsville will soon take on a different look.

Asked directly what she envisioned for that Huntsville presence in five years, Beck responded just as directly:

"I think we should have another campus in five years."

Calhoun moved from The Mall on University Drive and the Parkway to its present location in 1996. Where it will move next is unknown but not from lack of discussion.

"We've been planning," Beck said. "We just don't have the solution."

But when the answer is found, the construction will soon follow. Beck cited the Robotics Park and the arts center as examples of how quickly the school can move when the opportunity arises.

"You have to be ready to move." she said. "And if you're not, you're a stick in the mud."